Sobrato
’s Lance Wolfsmith runs the fastest race; Live Oak Cobbie Jones
posts new personal record
The waning summer temperatures and an azure, cloudless sky didn’t hinder the performance of Live Oak senior Cobbie Jones and Sobrato freshman Lance Wolfsmith during the two schools’ cross country meet at Anderson Dam Monday.
Jones broke her own record by five seconds and won the event with a time of 19:00 and Wolfsmith flew past the finish line with the best overall time of 17:11.
This young athlete made quite a debut competing against the upper division runners and left all of them in the dust on the trails of Lake Anderson. Despite this achievement by both Morgan Hill schools, Salinas pretty much dominated the meet as a unifying force, winning the event.
Salinas’ aggressive teammates Clark McLennan (17:24) and Casey Ricketts (17:36) were at Wolfsmith’s heels throughout the event. Live Oak’s Kenny Benner (17:54), Eric Matsumoto (18:00), and Andrew Taylor (18:05) followed behind their rivals in their second cross-country event of the season.
The girls’ varsity event was a triumph for both Morgan Hill and Salinas. Alexandria Bell (19:25) and Shannon McVannel (19:27) from Salinas took second and third place while Lisa Herrera (20:11) and Olivia Duran (21:40) did Live Oak proud as they took the fourth and fifth spots in the race despite the hot weather.
The boy’s junior varsity team fared well for Live Oak too. Mando Medina won the event over Salinas with a time of 18:08. Salinas’s Ryan Shimizv relentlessly pursued Medina all the way to the end with a finish of 18:40. Live Oak’s Tim Kotyuk chased Shimizv during the race and took third at 18:52. Other Live Oak cross-country runners Brent Hatakeyama (19:19) and Anthony Macadaeg (19:56) took sixth and tenth place in the meet.
As for the girls’ junior varsity, Salinas slaughtered the competition. They dominated most of the division. However, something has to be said about the indomitable spirit of Live Oak’s junior female racers; one such girl, Christina Shriver, twisted her ankle during the first part of the grueling course and kept running despite the pain until she limped past the finish line. Notwithstanding their loss, the girls from Live Oak are looking forward to racing again at the next meet at the Chieftain Classic in Salinas on Saturday.
Live Oak Coaches Dean Raymond and Norm Dow felt their teams could have been more competitive but were impressed by their unity. The runners’ times were close together, indicating they ran as a tight-knit team rather than competing against one another. Both coaches know their cross-country team will do better in the future and honestly, they can’t really make an assessment of things right now since it’s still early in the season. They have nine more weeks before they can do that.
Sobrato High coach James Feldman was pleased with Wolfsmith and also the fact that most kids on his teams are made up of freshmen, sophomores and juniors. His stint as coach for the second year at the new high school paid off. More students joined the cross-country team this season than last year and they’re out there eagerly tackling the tough races and competitors. Even though the team is comprised of younger runners, Feldman appreciates their enthusiasm and hard work.
